Headlight

[tartan_rob]

Anyone know what the type of headlight main beam bulb is? H1, H4 etc?

I'm too lazy to strip the unit down to check.

[Firbee]

Should be an H7 55W.

If a lamp has gone, then look at changing them for OSRAM Silverstar or Cool Blue Lamps, I changed mine last year and was totally blown away by the results. More light, much tighter beam pattern. Silverstar are +50% light on the road, Cool Blue are a bit less due to a blue coating that removes yellow light and matches Xenon HID appearance pretty closely.

Better still, being 55W they don't draw any extra current (no risk of overtemping the lampholders), and OSRAM are OEM suppliers to Audi.

I ordered mine from www.startledrabbit.com, and they arrived the next day.

[tartan_rob]

I was thinking about buying a Xenon HID kit for the main beam....

[tartan_rob]

I was thinking about buying a Xenon HID kit for the main beam....

[tartan_rob]

I was thinking about buying a Xenon HID kit for the main beam....

[Firbee]

If you want to get it done, get someone who knows what they are doing. If HID is installed incorrectly, it can bugger up all sorts of electrical systems on the car, plus the fact that the high voltages involved aren't all that good for the installer if they make a mistake...

To be honest, the laws governing the main beam pattern only allow the beam to illuminate certain areas anyway, you'll get very little (if any) extra beam length from HID, although what you can see will be brighter (approximately 2x light from OEM halogen lamps), and whiter (blueish in comparison to halogen headlights) which is slightly less tiring on the eyes. One bonus is that barring accidents you'll also never have to change the lamps again with HID, good job too at £70-£100 each!!

Anyway, not having done it I can't really say any more on HID retrofits. My other half's 3.2 TT has HID main beams and I do like them, but it's a big job to retrofit them. I'd be a bit wary...

[ajsl]

I had thought that the S4 came standard with Xenon HIDs?

[tartan_rob]

Only for dipped beam. I have upgraded them to high power Xenon's but I do feel that the main beam struggles especially now compared with the dipped beam. Also - as the HID's use their own ballasts, they are not so dependant on good wiring, they regulate themselves so where a normal bulb goes dimmer with reduced voltage, HID's have the same brightness as long as the voltage remains within a set range (say 10.5 - 16volts). Currently I have a 1/0.9volt drop between what I'm getting across the main beam and the battery whilst the car is running... Upgrading will be cheaper than upgrading the wiring loom..